Both Suntory whiskies have won numerous international taste-test awards over the years, edging out competitors from more traditional whiskey hotbeds such as Scotland, Canada and the United States. Demand has also been fuelled by a general surge in the popularity of Japanese whiskeys over the last decade.

Suntory’s 12-year Hakushu whiskey will not be sold next year.

Suntory

It’s unclear when the whiskies will hit the market again, although Suntory says the world hasn’t seen the last of them.

“Suntory has made strong investments to increase production capacity and ensure we are primed for continued long-term growth,” a spokesperson for the company told GlobalNews.ca in a statement. Suntory says both whiskies will have “limited availability in the next few years,” as it moves to shore up future stocks.

Some have attributed part of the 17-year-old Hibiki’s success to the film Lost in Translation, in which Bill Murray portrays an aging actor hired to shoot commercials for the whiskey in Japan.

“For relaxing times, make it Suntory time,” Murray’s character, Bob Harris, says in one of the commercials.

But time has proven to be a problem for Suntory. The company can’t simply ramp up production of its hottest-selling whiskies, because they need to age in barrels for over a decade before they can be sold.